May 10, 2021
VALUE ENGINEERING CASE STUDY
University of Florida Health in Jacksonville required a sound barrier wall to mitigate unwanted noise from their new generator building. The wall was originally specified as a precast concrete solution, but the acoustic consultant, Intertek, referred us to the general contractor, Stellar, and we collaborated with them on a joint bid with our economical Tuf-Barrier (Reflective) sound barrier wall system packaged as an installed solution.
Installed PVC sound barrier wall solution more economical than precast concrete
With many local precasters in the state, concrete sound walls are more economical and common in Florida. However, they are quite heavy and require much larger foundations than lightweight PVC AIL Sound Walls — and this wall was 25′ tall, requiring even larger foundations. By packaging our wall design and supply together with their installation contract, Stellar’s numbers were very attractive to the owner.
Further savings realized with the 16′ post spacing of Tuf-Barrier XL
In addition to our foundations being smaller, there were also fewer of them, thanks to the 16′ panel lengths of our Tuf-Barrier XL Series. The concrete wall would have been on a 12′ spacing. Less concrete, less machine time and less labor made the AIL Sound Walls installed solution even more attractive.
Noise barrier wall is 25′ tall
With the height of this sound barrier wall, our Engineering Team reviewed the post spacing options and were able to design an XL system even with the high Florida wind loads. We manufactured the noise barrier wall components ahead of the construction schedule and stored them until they were ready on-site for immediate install.
Sound relationships in noise mitigation
We’d like to give a shout-out to Cory Nickchen, the acoustic consultant at Intertek, for his referral on this project. We had already been working with him on a large-scale sound barrier wall for the new SAIA LTL cross-dock freight facility in Memphis, Tennessee, when he referred us. Our relationships with acoustic consultants have been a key part of our growth in the sound barrier wall market.
